Controlling mechanism for headlights



June 5, 1928.

Filed Aug. 5, 1926 I frame 10, an engine 11 art of the frame,

Patented June 5, 1928.

AMIGO. MICHAEL PUBGHIO,

I 1,672,282 NI 0 FFlfC.E.T..

OE IBUJEFALO, NEW YORK.

CONTROLLING mnormmsrr FOR iananmonrs,

Application filed August 5;

suing from an may be c glare in theeyes of o .Itfis the object ojf'thi ontrol-led so as automobile head-light, or lampto avoidja blinding n-coming persons, i s; invention to, provide a mechanism of this character which can be readily applied to cars 0 which can be readily tion,

ar con tru perated from the drivers seat to suit different road conditions, and which can be readily adjusted so as to either increase or decrease the amount of light emitted any from the head-light or lamp accordance with the rules or regulat ons in articular locality.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 1s a fragmentary perspective view of an ant omohile equipped with n'nyim proved light controlling mechanism.

h1gure 2 is tion of the h bodying my invent on.

lamp equipped a f agm nta y ri n a eccontrolfhng mechanism emle a o of a, a

i shu er, nd w t v myv ma front with one form 0 ts i arco anc Figure/tls a fragmentary front elevation,

partly in, section,

of the ans or adiE l ably connecting a shutter withits operating shaft.

f" vFlgane o of the .mechanism lever in its adjusted position;

Figure 6, is

thelooking means of the shutter isan elevation, partly in section,

or etaining the. hand;

a, perspective; view of part;of f r adi ng' t e posit erating'shajft;

on ts op Figure/7, is afragmentary plan view show ing a modificationof the means fQI," adjnstably connecting the ating shaft.

Similar. characters h tter with i s top'erof reference indicate' like'parts in the several figures of the ,drawnge- My, invention is or motor cars.

applicable tov automobiles of standard construction, that shown in the drawings oons-istingof a main.

unted on the fr nt a radiator 12"arranged in front of the engine, and twojh'ead-ilights or lamps 13,13 mounted on the front part of;

the frame on opposite sides of the radiator,

The preferredlembodiment of my invelli tion shown in follows shutter 14 wh igs. I 1-6, is. constructed, as

front, of each head-light is a, ich isucapabl-e of moving n a forth through a 19235. a Serial No. 127,330.

. convenientreach of the driver while occupy-v ing his usual seat in rear of the engine, which.

rocking motion is imparted tothe shutter'so as to either uncover the respective lamp.

when driving on aroadway while no one, is. approaching-from the opposite direction, or coveringathe lamp more or less when some one is facing or approaching on the roadway from the opposite direction' By this means the road ahead maybe either fully and brilliantly illuminated atnight when no persons are present who would be. blinded or dazed by the glare of the. head-lamps, but also rendering it possible to out down or obs struct so much of the stream of light issuing from the headprodufced the coming persons, operating me'chani the normaloperative position of the shutter, the same arranged in front'of' the upper part of the respective lamp, but in the [inoperative position of the same/"it is moved upwardlyzabovethe lamp;

same on the eyes of on- 'fThe laws of different localities varyasto operating shaft and engaging with the rear side of the shutter at that end thereof through which the op The front end of the operating shaft is screw threaded and receives aolamping sore-w nut 1-Z' which engages withfthe front side of the shutter, On one side of the axis of the operating shaft the shutter is provided with a curved slot 18' which is concentric with th agris and provi'ded on one or both, preferablyboth, edges with. rows; of serraons or. ee h 19 wh h re adapte t lamp that no glaring effect is I For this reason, the shutter smis so designed-that in erating' shaft passes. I

Y may i be provided ceive the teeth 20 formed on one or both sides of a locking block 21 movably mounted on the hub 16. In the preferred construction this locking block is arranged on the intermediate part of an adjusting bolt 22 which latter passes through the curved slot 18 of the shutter and the adjacent part of the hub 16 and is provided with a rear clamping'screw nut 23 engaging the rear side of the hub 16 and a front clamping screw nut 24 engaging with the front side of the shutter.

l/Vhen it is desired to adjust the shutter-on the operating shaft for cutting off more or less of the stream of light from the lamp to suita certain local'requirement, then the rear screw nut 23 is first loosened and the clamping bolt 22 pushed forwardly sufficiently to disengage the locking block 21 from the serrations of the shutter after which the latter may be shifted circumferentially to the position desired relatively to the operating shaft. Thereafter the locking block 21 is again moved rearwardly into engagement with different locking notches or serrations and then held in place by tightening the rear screw nut 23. Upon now operating the shutter from the drivers seat, the same will swing through the same are but the extent which the same in its operative position covers the lamp and the stream of light issuing therefrom will be changed inaccordance with the changed relative position of the shutter and operating shaft, thereby enabling this shutter operating mechanism to be readily adapted to meetlocal requirements.

Forconvenience in locating the lower edge of the shutter with reference, tothe extent of its closure position over the front of the headlight, the free end of the shutter is provided on itsfront side with a row of graduations which may be numbered as shown at 25, or otherwise designated so as to enable'the operator by bringing, one or the other of these gradnations ,into a horizontal position relative to the operating shaft, it is possible to fix the shutter in a" predetermined position on this shaft so that when theshutter is moved fully into its'operative position, its lower edge will go down 1 across the lamp the requisite extent to suit the law.

Each ofthe longitudinal operating shafts extends through a casing 26 mounted on the adjacent part of the automobile, which casing is provided in its'front wall with a front bearing 27 in which the operating shaft is journaled immediately in rear of the hub 16, while the rear end of this shaft is journaled in a rear bearing 28 in the rear wall of this casing. The opposing side walls of both casings are provided with bearings 29, 29 in which are journaled the two stub or end sections 30, 30,0f a transverse shaft, which latand has upper and lower arms.

washer 37 is mounted on the operating shaft between the bevel gear wheel 35 thereon, and the front wall of the casing, and a similar spring washer 38 is interposed between the 1 bevelgear wheel 36 and the side wall of the casing, as best shown in Fig. 2.

A rocking motion is imparted to the transverse shaft. by a hand lever 40 arranged ad-l jacent to the drivers seat, through the medium of intermediate transmitting mecha nism. This lever is pivoted to swing vertically on a bracket 39 which is secured to the instrument board or other part of the car, At a point between the head-lights and the drivers seat, a vertically swinging intermediate lever 41 is provided, the same being pivoted on a bracket 42 secured to the adjacent part of the main frame. mediate lever is connected by a front rod 43 with a rock arm 44 depending from the intermediate section of the transverse shaft, and a rear rod 45 connecting the upper arm of the intermediate lever with the lower arm of the hand lever. Upon swinging this hand lever back and forth, the shutters of both head-lights; will be simultaneously raised and lowered. In order to permit of holding the shutters and the parts associated therewith in either extremes of their throw, I

a locking device is provided which in its preferred form, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5 comprises a projection 46 having the form of a roller arranged on the upper arm of the hand lever, a curved latch 47 having its concave side facing the projection and provided near its ends with notches 48, 49, a'pivot connecting one end of this latch with the bracket 1 39, a stop 50 arranged on this bracket and adapted to be engaged by the inner side of the opposite end of the latch, and a spring 51 connecting said latch with saidbracket and operating to hold the latch yieldingly in engagement with said stop. When the hand lever is in either extremes of its movement,

the projection 46 of the same engages with one or the other of the notches 48, 49 of the latch and is yieldingly held thereby in this position. When it is desired to shift the shutters, sufiicient pressure must be applied to the hand lever to overcome the tension of the spring 51 after which the completion of The lower arm of this inter-.

the stroke of the hand lever can be effected with ease and facility, and when the end of the stroke is reached, the projection 46 engages the other notch of the latch for holding the parts impassively in this changed position. v 1

The shutters can by this means be quickly raised into their elevated inoperative position, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, for night driving on a clear road ahead, or the shutters can be lowered so as to cover the upper parts of the lamps, as shown by full lines in the same figure, and thereby cut off the glaring effect of the lamps from' oncoming traflic during night driving whenever this is necessary to prevent accidents,

due to glaring lights striking the eyes of persons on the road ahead.

For convenience in accurately adjusting the intermediate mechanism which transmits motion from the hand lever to the shutters one of the connecting rods, for example the rear one, as shown in Fig. 1, is constructed of sections which have right and left handscrew threads 52, 53 and these are engaged by a turn buckle 54 correspondinglythreaded. By turning this buckle 54 the transmitting mechanism can be adjusted so that the shutters are in their correct operative position when the hand lever is at one exsignature.

tremity of its throw.

If desired, the adjustment of each shutter relative to its operating shaft may be effected by providing the shutter around the shaft 15 with an annular row of serrations 55 and engaging the same with a similar row of serrations 56 on the hub 16, these serrations after adjustment being held in locking engagement with eachother by tightening the nut 57 arranged on operating shaft and bearing against the front side of the shutters as shown in Fig. 7.

I claim: r

A controlling mechanism for head lights comprising a shutter adapted to move vertically in front of the light in a plane at right angles to the axis thereof, a longitudinal shaft adapted to be arranged on one side of the light, andmeans for adjustably mountin said shutter on said shaft, comprising a hu secured to said shaft, a clamping nut on said shaft adapted to press said shutter against said hub, said shutter being provided with a slot which is concentric with said shaft and having serrations on its edge and a clamping bolt passing through said slot and adapted to draw the shutter and hub together and provided with a locking block arranged in said slot and provided with a tooth adapted to engage with one or another of said serrations.

In testimony whereof he hereby aflixes his AMIGO MICHAEL PURCHIO. 

